[SOLVED] 404 Category not found error on many pages

Hello - I hope someone can help me. Suddenly today our site began coming up with "404 - Category Not Found" errors all over the place. I submitted a trouble ticket to the webhost, and they suggested I ask here, since it seems to have something to do with being logged in (or trying to log in) to the site. The home page comes up fine, but when you try to log in, you get that error. Pages that are visible to guests are also coming up fine.

I'm not 100% certain this is a CB issue. Some of my members have told me via e-mail that when it first began to happen this afternoon, they were already logged in and it happened when they tried to access other member-only pages, such as Kunena forum and uddeIM.

But I thought this would be the best place to start.

I should also tell you that right before this began happening, I had my PHP upgraded from 5.2.17 to 5.3.16. The webhost insists that this was not the cause.

I also upgraded Kunena from 2.0.1 to 2.0.2 earlier in the day.

I hope someone can help me - I've got a lot of upset users!

Joomla 2.5.6, CB 1.8.1, Kunena 2.0.2, DOCman 1.6, Geocode Factory, uddeIM

CB has no categories? That's a Joomla error. If a viewer doesn't have access to a Content category or article Joomla serves them a 404 as if it doesn't even exist, which is completely correct security wise. Basically the viewer is trying to view a category they have no permission to view. Fix your category or menu link for said category permissions within Joomla.

I know that CB has no categories. The error comes up on the page "...index.php/component/comprofiler/login.html" which makes no sense (no categories there).

I had made no changes to any Joomla category permissions before this started, anyway.

The error seems to come up on any page where the user must be logged in to view it (Kunena forum, DOCman main page, GeoFactory map, uddeIM, etc.) Pages that can be viewed without logging in are still working.

You've a link to a Joomla category that the user has no access to somewhere. Maybe it's in the module intro or footer text? It's strictly related to Joomlas Content router, where if an Itemid doesn't exist (due to access or otherwise) for a content category or article then it flips out. This should only happen in SEF though I believe, turning off SEF it may work fine. As it's on multiple pages my guess is you've some sort of module that's rendering latest articles maybe? Check what modules are present on the pages showing the error.

I tried unpublishing different modules one at a time, but nothing worked. Then I turned off SEF and now everything seems to be fine. Thank you so much for the suggestion! I still don't understand WHY that fixed it, or what caused the problem in the first place. I also don't know if turning off SEF is a good idea. But at least my problem is solved, my members can access the site again, and everyone is happy.

Thanks again!